House of Hope

Key takeaways

• Entry is through Helsik at the Devil’s Fee, not by walking to an overworld entrance.
• The House has several routes between areas The Archive, Boudoir and Hope’s Prison are the main objectives, while the Vault and balconies contain additional loot and lore.
• The Orphic Hammer is the most important prize if you intend to free Orpheus later. If Raphael gave you the hammer through a deal, it is already available to you, but using it to free Hope still alerts the House.
• The Archive contains either the Orphic Hammer or the Soul-Sworn Contract, depending on your earlier dealings with Raphael.
• Freeing Hope requires the Orphic Hammer She then becomes an attached follower during the final battle.
• The final encounter is against Raphael, supported by Cambions and four Soul Pillars. Hope can be saved, and doing so affects the rewards.

About this guide

Overview

The House of Hope is Raphael’s personal domain in Avernus, reached from the city of Baldur’s Gate through the Devil’s Fee. It is both a location and a compact dungeon built around a heist: enter Raphael’s home, search his Archive, recover the Orphic Hammer or a relevant contract, free Hope, and escape before Raphael returns.

Although it is called a “house”, the location is much larger than a single room or boss arena. Its explorable scope includes the entrance and Feast Hall, a looping Main Corridor, the Chamber of Egress, Raphael’s Boudoir, Raphael’s Vault, the Archive, external balconies and platforms, and Hope’s Prison beneath the main level. The surrounding Lower City and Devil’s Fee are neighbouring access points, not parts of the House of Hope itself.

The House is a mission-only destination. It is not part of the normal Avernus map from the opening cinematic or the playable wilderness visited in some other quest contexts. Once inside, the party can explore freely for a time, but taking certain central treasures raises the alarm and leads towards the confrontation with Raphael.

What the House of Hope is

The House of Hope is Raphael’s private residence and collection vault. Raphael uses it to hold contracts, debtors, powerful objects and people who have become useful to him. Its name is deliberately cruel: Hope is not the owner but a prisoner, bound beneath the house and exploited as part of Raphael’s system of bargains.

The House is separate from the Devil’s Fee, which is Helsik’s shop in the Lower City. The Devil’s Fee is the access point and preparation area. It is not a subarea of the House of Hope.

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Entering through the Devil’s Fee

The normal route begins by speaking with Helsik at the Devil’s Fee. She is a diabolist and an expert in opening routes into the Hells. Depending on dialogue choices and your resources, she can offer access in exchange for:

If you agree to Helsik’s bargain, she provides a ritual pouch and instructions. The ritual is performed upstairs at the blood-marked circle. The required components are placed around the circle, with the Infernal Marble in the centre. The components include a skull, Coin of Mammon, diamond and incense. Correct placement opens the portal to Avernus.

The ritual is a one-way expedition in practical terms. Prepare before entering:

You can enter without first signing Raphael’s contract. The House is therefore an optional destination for characters who want the Orphic Hammer, want to rescue Hope, or simply want to oppose Raphael.

Entering through the Devil’s Fee: steps

1. 01
   Complete any Lower City business you want to finish first.
2. 02
   Bring a party capable of sustained combat.
3. 03
   Have healing, restoration and crowd-control options available.
4. 04
   Consider bringing a character with strong Sleight of Hand, Perception, Arcana and social skills.
5. 05
   Make a manual save before using the portal.

The entrance and foyer

The party arrives in the House’s entrance area, where Hope appears as a strange dwarf-like spirit. She explains that she is imprisoned and that the Orphic Hammer is the tool capable of breaking her bonds. If convinced to help, Hope provides each party member with Debtor’s Attire. Wearing this disguise allows the group to move through much of the House without immediately provoking the debtors.

Hope’s assistance is not a permanent guarantee of safety. The House can still become hostile when the party steals protected objects, attacks residents or raises the alarm.

The Feast Hall

The Feast Hall is the grand central reception space. It provides the first clear impression of Raphael’s vanity: opulent furnishings, lavish decoration and a court-like atmosphere surrounded by people trapped in service.

The hall connects to the Main Corridor through two iron doors. The eastern door is open. The western door can be opened from the other side or forced with a difficult lockpicking check. The western route is not essential, and choosing one door over the other does not permanently ruin the expedition.

The Infernal Mason is found cleaning the hall. He claims to be the architect responsible for building Moonrise Towers for Ketheric Thorm. His dialogue provides additional context for Ketheric’s fall, the Gauntlet of Shar and the bargain that allowed Raphael to interfere with the Dark Justiciars. He is primarily a lore character rather than a quest-giver or merchant.

Main Corridor

The Main Corridor is a semicircular passage running around the House. It is the location’s principal circulation route and connects most of the major rooms.

Errant Souls can appear while the party moves through the corridor. These are not a permanent named faction or a friendly population. They are hostile supernatural hazards associated with the House.

A chest near the prison hatchway contains a random scroll, valuables and potions. A gilded chest further along contains two Potions of Angelic Slumber and a book about the creation of the Orphic Hammer.

Chamber of Egress

The Chamber of Egress is sometimes described as the Outer Portals room. It contains seven inactive portals. They cannot be used as ordinary fast-travel entrances, but interacting with them produces descriptions of distant places.

The portals are mainly atmospheric and lore-focused. They establish Raphael’s reach and suggest that the House is connected to a much wider network of infernal and planar travel. They are not alternate routes to those areas in the base game.

The chamber is cleaned by Nubaldin, a former prison overseer. He can discuss Enver Gortash’s escape and may reveal information about Hope’s location. If Gortash has already been defeated, telling Nubaldin can produce a more favourable response and additional information.

Eastern Balcony and exterior platforms

The eastern balcony overlooks the surrounding infernal void. From here, the party can jump across narrow external platforms and reach the Boudoir from an alternate direction.

This route is particularly useful if the front of the Boudoir is blocked by the Mystic Force Curtain. The normal entrance requires a Boudoir Invitation, which can be obtained from the Archivist. Alternatively, the party can approach from the balcony and outer platforms. Characters generally need enough Strength or suitable movement abilities to cross the gaps safely. Splitting the party and moving one character at a time reduces the chance of an accidental fall.

The balcony route is also a useful example of the House’s non-linear design. You do not need to follow the apparent order suggested by the foyer and corridor.

Western Balcony

The western balcony contains an Eternal Rat, one of Raphael’s debtors. Unlike most residents, this debtor does not become hostile when the House’s alarm is raised.

Nearby are records associated with Korrilla’s observations of Raphael’s treatment of Hope. These records are distributed across several locations, including the Archive and Boudoir balcony. They are optional lore objects but help explain the cruelty behind Raphael’s polished public image.

Haarlep

Haarlep is an incubus employed by Raphael and found lounging in the Boudoir. Haarlep’s encounter can be handled socially or through combat.

If the party accepts Haarlep’s game, Haarlep can provide the Key From Raphael’s Safe. The key opens the hidden safe concealed beneath Raphael’s portrait. The safe contains:

The portrait is trapped. If the party detects and disarms it first, they can access the safe without provoking Haarlep. Activating the trapped portrait causes fire damage and makes Haarlep hostile.

If the party refuses Haarlep’s conditions, the encounter becomes a fight against Haarlep and six Vengeful Imps. Haarlep’s corpse can provide the Helldusk Gloves, which are otherwise unavailable through the encounter’s peaceful route, as well as unique underwear.

Named entries: Boudoir: Opening it requires

1. 01
   a Perception check to notice the gem;
2. 02
   a Wisdom check while interacting with it;
3. 03
   an Arcana check to complete the opening process.

Named entries: Raphael’s Vault

• Staff of Spellpower
• Guildhall

The Archivist

The Archivist is the Archive’s keeper. Hope can explain that he fears authority, especially the high inquisitor Verillius Receptor, an official associated with Zariel.

The party can exploit this fear by presenting themselves as Verillius or otherwise manipulating the Archivist through dialogue. Successful social checks can reveal information and make the Archive easier to navigate. If the deception fails, the Archivist can become hostile or raise the alarm.

The Boudoir Invitation can be obtained through dialogue checks, intimidation or pickpocketing. It can also be bypassed by using the external balcony route.

The Librarian Eternal Debtors do not necessarily need to be defeated. The party can use stealth, positioning and the Archivist’s movement to keep them from witnessing the theft.

The three main pedestals

The central item is protected by a magical barrier. The password is found through Raphael’s safe in the Boudoir. The party can also learn that the protected object requires a codeword by examining the magical mechanism.

The two side pedestals have pressure plates. Removing the Gauntlets or Amulet without dealing with the traps can raise the alarm. The Gauntlets can be stolen by disarming the pressure plate or replacing them with another pair of gauntlets. However, once the party takes the central contract or hammer, the House’s alarm is generally raised anyway, so careful theft of the Gauntlets may only delay the inevitable.

The Archive’s three important pedestals contain

Which central item appears?

The item on the central pedestal depends on your relationship with Raphael:

The contract is the object needed for the Escape the Deal route. The hammer is the object needed to break Hope’s chains and later provides a way to challenge the Netherbrain’s protections if used in the relevant endgame path.

Named entries: Archive

• Orphic Hammer

Residents

The House is populated by people who are not ordinary servants in the normal sense. Most are Eternal Debtors, people bound to Raphael through contracts and condemned to work for him.

The majority of debtors are background NPCs rather than vendors or quest hubs. They provide atmosphere, occasional dialogue and evidence of Raphael’s methods.

Visitors and story-associated figures

These figures are connected to the House’s story but are not permanent residents:

Raphael, Korrilla and Yurgir appear for the final confrontation after the party frees Hope or takes the key objective that triggers the escape sequence.

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The House has no ordinary city guard or Flaming Fist presence. Its security is magical, contractual and infernal.

Once the alarm is raised, the House can become broadly hostile. Eternal Debtors and other residents may attack, while Hell Spheres can appear in the corridors. Their size makes them difficult to move through some doorways, so doorways can provide useful defensive positions for ranged characters.

The House does not need to be cleared in a single fixed order. A cautious party can collect non-essential loot first, then take the central objective, rescue Hope and return to the entrance. A combat-oriented party may simply trigger the alarm early and clear the location room by room.

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Ordinary enemies

The exact number and positioning of minor enemies can depend on when the alarm is raised and which routes the party uses.

Raphael

Raphael is the House’s final boss. The battle takes place in the portal chamber near the entrance. He is supported by:

The four Soul Pillars are central to the fight. Destroying them removes an important source of Raphael’s power and should generally be prioritised alongside controlling the Cambions.

Raphael’s battle is also one of the House’s main progression checks. If Hope is alive and the party defeats Raphael, Hope can reward the group with the Gloves of Soul Catching. Raphael’s corpse provides the Helldusk Armour. If Yurgir joins the party, he can also become an ally for the Gather Your Allies objective.

Yurgir

This is one of the clearest examples of an Act Two decision changing the House of Hope finale.

Korrilla

Korrilla appears with Raphael at the final battle. The party may be able to preserve her life through non-lethal damage. Doing so changes Hope’s later acknowledgement of her sister. This is an optional outcome rather than a requirement for completing the House.

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The following directory consolidates the main verified named rewards and notable objects found in the House.

Major equipment

• Orphic Hammer
• Staff of Spellpower

Other named items

Some containers also contain random valuables, random arrows, random spell scrolls, camp clothing and potions. These should not be mistaken for fixed named rewards.

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This order collects most of the useful material while keeping the major progression triggers under control.

Before entering

1. 01
   Speak to Helsik and decide whether you will pay, bargain or use another route.
2. 02
   Make a manual save.
3. 03
   Bring a strong lockpicker and a character with good Perception.
4. 04
   Prepare fire resistance, crowd control and healing.
5. 05
   Decide whether you want to preserve non-essential NPCs such as Korrilla.

Inside the House

This route is not mandatory. It is simply the most useful order for collecting the House’s fixed rewards before the final battle.

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Inside the House: steps

1. 01
   Speak to Hope in the entrance area.
2. 02
   Accept Debtor’s Attire if you want to move stealthily.
3. 03
   Explore the Feast Hall and speak with the Infernal Mason.
4. 04
   Enter the Main Corridor and open accessible containers.
5. 05
   Visit the Chamber of Egress and speak with Nubaldin.
6. 06
   Use the balcony route if you want to reach the Boudoir without the invitation.
7. 07
   Deal with Haarlep and obtain the safe key or defeat them for the Helldusk Gloves.
8. 08
   Open Raphael’s safe and take the password note.
9. 09
   Visit Raphael’s Vault for the Helldusk Helmet, Staff of Spellpower and Mol’s contract.
10. 10
    Enter the Archive.
11. 11
    Obtain the Boudoir Invitation if you have not already bypassed the curtain.
12. 12
    Take the Gauntlets and Amulet, disarming their pressure plates if you want to delay the alarm.
13. 13
    Use the password on the central Archive display.
14. 14
    Take the Orphic Hammer or Soul-Sworn Contract.
15. 15
    Expect the House to become hostile.
16. 16
    Travel to Hope’s Prison.
17. 17
    Defeat the Spectators and Vengeful Imps.
18. 18
    Break both crystals with the Orphic Hammer.
19. 19
    Return to the entrance portal.
20. 20
    Defeat Raphael and his allies.
21. 21
    Speak with Hope afterwards.

Deal with the Devil

This is Raphael’s major Act Three bargain. If you accept his offer, the Orphic Hammer is provided in exchange for your contract. The House then contains the Soul-Sworn Contract rather than the hammer.

The House can therefore be used to reverse or challenge Raphael’s bargain. Taking the contract from the Archive and destroying it is the core of the Escape the Deal route.

Save Hope

This quest begins after entering the House and speaking with Hope. Its objectives include finding the Orphic Hammer, locating Hope’s prison, freeing her, escaping and defeating Raphael. The quest can fail if Hope dies or if the party leaves the House without rescuing her.

Escape the Deal

This is the contract-focused route. It is especially relevant for characters who accepted Raphael’s deal and received the Orphic Hammer from him. The House’s Archive holds the Soul-Sworn Contract, while Raphael’s Vault may hold Mol’s separate contract.

Acquire the Gauntlets for Helsik

If Helsik opened the portal in exchange for the Gauntlets of Hill Giant Strength, the Archive contains the requested item. After returning to the Devil’s Fee, the party can:

The quest records the outcome separately.

Gather Your Allies

Several House outcomes can affect the final confrontation:

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Save Hope for last in your route

Do not enter Hope’s Prison immediately unless you are ready to begin the final sequence. Freeing her makes the return to the portal urgent and leads to Raphael’s arrival.

Loot the Boudoir before taking the main objective

The Boudoir is easier to explore before the House becomes hostile. Haarlep’s encounter can also provide the safe key and Archive password.

Take Mol’s contract if Mol survived

This is easy to overlook because it is in Raphael’s Vault rather than the Archive. Returning it can improve Mol’s later storyline and ally outcome.

Bring a spare pair of gauntlets

If you want to steal the Gauntlets of Hill Giant Strength without immediately triggering their pressure plate, replace them with another pair or disarm the trap. This becomes less important if you intend to take the Orphic Hammer or Soul-Sworn Contract straight afterwards, since that theft will already escalate the House.

Protect Hope during the boss fight

Hope’s survival is tied to the best reward outcome. Keep her away from concentrated enemy damage and use her special abilities carefully. The final battle is easier if the party quickly reduces the number of Cambions and destroys the Soul Pillars.

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The House of Hope is a physical expression of Raphael’s character. It is beautiful, but every luxury has a coercive function. The Feast Hall presents hospitality, the Boudoir presents indulgence, the Archive presents cultivated knowledge and the prison reveals the reality underneath the performance.

Its portals imply that Raphael’s ambitions extend well beyond Baldur’s Gate. His collection includes contracts, infernal artefacts and political leverage. The Eternal Debtors show the cost of his bargains, while Hope provides the clearest example of someone whose identity has been turned into a resource.

The Infernal Mason’s presence also ties the House to the wider history of Act Two. His regret over Moonrise Towers and the Gauntlet of Shar gives the location a useful continuity link: Raphael’s influence is not confined to Act Three, even though the House itself is encountered there.

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Is the House of Hope part of Avernus?

Yes. It is a private location in Avernus, accessed through a portal from the Devil’s Fee. It is not part of the same freely explorable terrain as the playable Avernus section encountered elsewhere in the game.

Can I enter without signing Raphael’s contract?

Yes. Helsik can open the route, and the House can be entered as an optional heist.

Do I need to bring the Orphic Hammer?

No. If you have not received it from Raphael, it can be found in the Archive. If you already have it, the Archive instead contains the Soul-Sworn Contract.

Can I save Hope without fighting Raphael?

No. Freeing Hope leads to Raphael’s confrontation at the exit. The intended completion route requires defeating him.

Can I save Korrilla?

It is possible to preserve Korrilla through non-lethal damage in the final fight. This changes Hope’s later dialogue but is not required to complete the quest.

Is Haarlep a companion?

No. Haarlep is an encounter in the Boudoir, not a recruitable companion.

Is the rejuvenating pool a camp?

No. It is a restoration facility within the Boudoir. Use it as a recovery point, but do not assume it replaces every function of the camp.

What happens if I kill everyone before taking the hammer?

The House can be cleared, but Raphael’s final confrontation still occurs when the main progression is triggered. Killing ordinary residents is not required and may remove dialogue or optional outcomes.

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Sources

• Acquire the Gauntlets for Helsik - bg3.wiki — bg3.wiki
• House of Hope - bg3.wiki — bg3.wiki
• Save Hope - bg3.wiki — bg3.wiki
• Deal with the Devil - bg3.wiki — bg3.wiki